Blogoriffic

It used to be some years back that if you wanted to watch sports or a sporting event all you had to do was actually go to the game. You could go to the local stadium, gymnasium, school, field, and catch a good game with your friends or family. If you were a sports fanatic you could stay glued to the television watching hours upon hours of your favorite sport so you can learn every single detail about the sport you love; and then, you would manifest that love or passion you have in discussions with your friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances, and anyone who is willing to share in the love-in. That is the spirit of sports. That is the magic of sports. It is in the social interaction, the identification, the exhilaration, the drama, the tension, the joy, the pain, the focus and, the sense of pride or accomplishment you get from it all. Sports are a quick metaphor for life and in its basic form is very, very pure.

I am obviously a sports fan, there is no doubt about that, but sometimes there is a need to explain to people why Blogging about sports news and events could be a valuable thing to do.

I enjoy listening the The BS Report (podcast) which features Bill Simmons. The semi-casual approach of that show allows for moments of hilarity, playfulness, reflection, discussion and good old time passage. This show is really just another form of Blogging in the sense that it is just another avenue for discussion outside of an actual sport or event of our interest. He recently skirted around some issues supposed sports journalism is facing today in the world of the internet, failing newspapers, and economies of scale organizations such as ESPN. I find the whole thing just fascinating and I have just one response to any of that rhetoric (good or bad).

The unifying thing here is the forum where people can come together to discuss all matters or issues that revolve around our sporting interests.

The popularity,variety and growth of all our sporting interests today is really what drives everything from the NEWS, to ESPN, to the Blogs, because we are all inherently competitive and we are all inherently social animals. 100 years ago it was not possible for someone to be 100 miles away from a sporting event and instantly send a message (or Tweet) to participant (say athlete) involved in the said event; but now it is very, very, very possible. These days I can be laying in bed (scratching my nether regions and eating chips) and then receive a Tweet from an athlete offering free tickets to fans to come and watch him/her put a competitive hurting on his/her opponent. How sensational is that? Imagine being able to receive a text message from Jackie Robinson to come and watch him play; how many people would want to be a part of that? Why should only newspapers own some kind of exclusive right to that too?? It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Yes, the growth of the internet and the speed of dissemination of information is increasingly exponential; that is just the reality. No newspaper actually has exclusive right to every and all things that could be construed as NEWS (e.g. if an earthquake destroys all of California, does CNN have the right to be the 1st and only one to communicate that news? Obviously not).

So what does this all mean for media hoards (including the newspapers that are crying foul)? There seems to be this great fear of the thing that is unknown and the uncertainty (or skepticism) around the ability to generate income or making a living in journalism/NEWS. These people need to get real and be honest with themselves. If the dream and goal is to cover the news, then find a way to do just that; cover the news. Newspapers and large Media outlets like ESPN need to realize that time has changed and will continue to change forever. If your business has now changed into a large marketing and advertising firm as opposed to a NEWS or social outlet then you have no one else to blame but yourself. Most bloggers start out much the same way you started in your career - interests, need, opportunity and, providence. They should not have to give all of that up just so that you can better sell Nikes, Pepsi, Porn or a $5 footlong. If I can receive some sports related information via a Tweet/an email/Television/Radio/Internet or whatever media outlet why can I not discuss the content or post my opinion about the information on a Blog? It is not just your job to disseminate quality and accurate information but also to do it faster and more efficiently than the Blogosphere (i.e. if your interest is still in disseminating [sports] news and not in marketing commercial products or manipulating/monopolizing the newsmaking process and news itself).